UCD Ball headline acts confirmed

TWO HEADLINE acts have been confirmed for the UCD Ball, which is taking place in Belfield on Friday, 24th April. German house act, Booka Shade will be the electro headliners while Iglu and Hartly will be the main live act for the event. Other acts confirmed for the ball include Japanese Popstars, Republic of Loose and SClub however two further acts have yet to be confirmed.

Students’ Union (SU) Entertainments’ (Ents) Officer, Gary Redmond, who is responsible for the event, has confirmed that the format of the ball will be similar to last year’s event, as the main stage will be located in the car park behind the Student Centre and beside the Health Sciences Building.

However, this year, the stage will be placed beside the hockey pitches and it is believed that this move will increase the capacity for the ball, which reached 4500 last year. Mr Redmond denied that the construction work which has begun on the new Student Centre will hinder the event. “The Forum Bar will be open upstairs and downstairs as usual. We will have extra security and floodlights around the development to secure the safety of the students.”

Mr Redmond is confident there will be improvements made to last year’s UCD Ball for the 2009 event. “We’ve put in additional food concessions this year, and far more bar space so the queues for drinks will be a lot shorter. There is a lot more staff and toilets. We’re just trying to make a better day out for the students.”

A security plan has also been mapped out for the event. Mr Redmond explained gardaí will be working with a security team brought in by Diffusion event management as the university’s security contractors, Pulse Security, will not be providing their services for the event. A medical team will also be on standby during the ball.

Despite the substantial loss the ball incurred last year, Mr Redmond is confident that any financial loss will be minimal. “We have been working on this for nine months and have managed to knock down the production costs an awful lot from last year.”

He added, “Everyone last year has a great time, so I am confident that the ball will sell out. We’re looking at a minimal loss to the SU. We’re hoping to break even.” Mr Redmond is currently in negotiating with a number of potential sponsers and believes that is these deals are successful, “we would be looking at making a small profit”.

Tickets for the UCD Ball will cost €25 and will be on sale in SU shops and the UCD Ball website from 10am, Wednesday, 1st April. The event begins at 3pm and will conclude just after midnight.